The Winklevoss twins really do want to put their name into bitcoin – they have launched a blended bitcoin price index, the ‘Winkdex’ that they say reflects the true price of the digital currency. The index will be used to price the assets in the brothers’ forthcoming bitcoin trust.

The Winkdex will be offered by Math-based Asset Index LLC, a company operated by the Winklevosses. It was announced today in the brothers’ latest filing with the SEC, an amended version of its July filing describing the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust.

“We believe that we are establishing an accurate spot price that reflects the true value of a bitcoin and resolves the price confusion that exists due to the various exchanges,” said Cameron Winklevoss, who acts as CEO of MBAI.

The Winkdex uses the trading price in US dollars for the top three qualified bitcoin exchanges by volume across a two-hour period. It uses a volume-weighted moving average to set its price. It also weights the most recent transactions in the two-hour period greater than earlier transactions in the same window.

In time, the pair hope that the index will be used as a more general benchmark for the price of bitcoin, rather than purely as a way to determine the net asset value of the fund.

Winklevoss Winkdex bitcoin price index

Price indices for bitcoin are becoming increasingly important given the volatile nature of the asset, and the delta that exists between various exchanges, which are themselves relatively young, and part of a still emerging market. The Winkdex’s page, which shows six different exchange prices in addition to its own, is indicative of the large spread between different exchanges.

Average prices on LocalBTC (localbitcoins.com) were listed at around $760 on the site, for example, while pricing at troubled Mt Gox stood at just $262, at the time of writing. The Winkdex pegged bitcoin at $628.

The Winkdex joins CoinDesk’s own Bitcoin Price Index, launched last September, which has a clearly defined set of rules outlining which exchanges it supports.

Like CoinDesk, MBAI has disqualified Mt. Gox from inclusion in its index. It attributed this to the recent freeze in bitcoin withdrawals, in addition to its backlog of US dollar withdrawals.

Along with today’s amended SEC filing, the launch of the Winkdex is a signal that the Winklevoss brothers are moving closer to the launch of their ETF. The filing was expected, following an announcement by their lawyer last month. She predicted that the fund might be approved by the end of this year.

The latest version of the SEC filing referred to the Federal Senate hearings last year, in addition to the NYDFS hearings that took place in January. It highlighted the regulatory uncertainty that still exists around bitcoin. The Winklevoss twins will be particularly sensitive about this; they attended the hearings just days after the arrest of Charlie Shrem, the founder of now-defunct BitInstant which was one of their key investments. They distanced themselves from Shrem in a statement at the time.

The Winklevoss brothers claimed to hold 1% of all bitcoins when the initial ETF document was submitted last July.

Anauncment from MTGOX .""Dear MtGox Customers,""Thank you for your patience this week while we are working on re-initiating bitcoin withdrawals. In addition to the technical issue, this week we have experienced some security problems, and as a result we had to relocate MtGox to our previous ofﬁce building in Shibuya (details can be found here https://support.mtgox.com/home). The move, combined with some other security and technical challenges, pushed back our progress.""As much as we didn’t want to only provide an “update on an update”, this is the current status. We are committed to solving this issue and will provide more information as soon as possible to keep everyone in the loop.""We are very sorry for the delays and deeply appreciate your kind understanding and continuous support." "Best regards,"""MtGox Team

Just as an FYI, there is a new beta site, called The Cryptsy Report (www.cryptsyreport.com) that is gathering news about the cryptoverse and putting it in one location.

There are no sign ups or cost as it continues to fit within the realm of free information and free business. Anyone can submit new articles and even receive rewards for published articles - ranging from very short to lengthy investigative pieces. Check it out.

Just as an FYI, there is a new beta site, called The Cryptsy Report (www.cryptsyreport.com) that is gathering news about the cryptoverse and putting it in one location.

There are no sign ups or cost as it continues to fit within the realm of free information and free business. Anyone can submit new articles and even receive rewards for published articles - ranging from very short to lengthy investigative pieces. Check it out.

Tnx for the info. I will try to post news here for now , we will see how it will go. .

Just as an FYI, there is a new beta site, called The Cryptsy Report (www.cryptsyreport.com) that is gathering news about the cryptoverse and putting it in one location.

There are no sign ups or cost as it continues to fit within the realm of free information and free business. Anyone can submit new articles and even receive rewards for published articles - ranging from very short to lengthy investigative pieces. Check it out.

Tnx for the info. I will try to post news here for now , we will see how it will go. .

Tnx for support.

Not a problem. The site is seemingly ramping up and about a dozen or so other reporters report in on and off - nice little side hobby too for writers as they get paid coin per published article. Good to get in on it early.

Nermin Hajdarbegovic | Published on February 20, 2014 at 15:32 GMT | Merchants

TigerDirect Offers $20 Discount for Bitcoin Shoppers

Of interest to bitcoiners needing PC components, TigerDirect has launched an interesting promo that should help save a few bucks.

The company started accepting bitcoins last month, so it is perhaps no surprise that it is trying to drum up some trade.

The ‘PC Parts Week’ discount applies to orders over $100 and it works only if you checkout with a digital wallet like BitPay. Users fitting the requirements will get $20 off their order.

The deal is sponsored by chip-makers Intel and AMD, memory outfits SanDisk and Kingston, add-in-board partner PNY, and TRENDnet.

The offer went live yesterday, February 19th, and it will remain valid through to February 26th. It is limited to one offer per customer and the discount will be applied at checkout.

Although $20 may not sound like much, that much off a $100 purchase equates to a 20% discount.

Growing choice

TigerDirect, which is based in Florida, started accepting bitcoin payments on January 23 and so far the most popular product categories for buyers using the virtual currency have been graphics cards, power supply units and tablet PCs.

Over in Britain, meanwhile, Scan Computers also recently started taking bitcoin via BitPay.

Scan executive James Gorbold said the company is also looking into other alternative currencies, such as litecoin. Scan is offers custom frames for GPU miners, so it only makes sense that it would consider scrypt-based altcoins for payments.

Like TigerDirect, Scan uses BitPay to handle payments.

Also hoping to rake in some virtual currency, Aria PC Technology, another UK component supplier and e-tailer, started accepting bitcoin just last week.

Look i get that that site is good i am just trying to provide some news directly on this forum. For forum members. There is no need to point out that site in evry post. I did check it out and will be active there to.

*Can u pls , unquote that whole article and leave only ur comment. I am trying to keep this thread clean as posible without to much quotes and confusion. Tnx.

It’s hard to not get frustrated when everyone starts jumping for joy after a televised interview in which eBay CEO John Donahue told Bloomberg that PayPal is building a digital wallet for multiple cryptocurrencies. Because, of course, it is. The e-payments giant would be silly not to.

Paypal, which is owned by eBay, is the pioneer in digital payments and they already accept over 25 foreign currencies – basically, all of the ones that matter, with the exception of the Chinese RMB.

New digital currencies like bitcoin will likely interact with PayPal’s systems in the same manner as existing fiat currencies – when they are big enough. That’s because, like Coinbase and BitPay, you would expect PayPal to lock-in fiat prices for merchants accepting bitcoin.

They would also be likely to batch transactions ‘off-block chain’ in order to cover transaction risks during the 10-minute confirmation window.

What they said

In the interview, Bloomberg’s Matt Miller told Donahue that he thinks digital payments like bitcoin will rule in the internet commerce of the future and have the potential to make PayPal defunct unless the company starts preparing now.

However, it is absurd to infer that PayPal is useless in the long-term, and neglects the fact that PayPal owns some serious e-commerce real-estate. This is like saying that Amazon, after utterly dominating the book industry, would never be able to move into electronics (or any other category that they have since dominated).

Miller speaks with an irritating certainty about bitcoin. It’s safe to call me a fanatic, but Miller is already in outer space on his way to the moon.

Finally, the idea of the “head start” PayPal would get for spinning off now makes some sense until you consider what he is really saying. This is, that PayPal should essentially spin-off to the highest bidder before it dies an inevitable death. Is Miller suggesting a perverse corporate pump and dump?

Donahue’s no fool. He coolly pointed out there’s nothing that’s holding PayPal back from integrating digital payments today as part of eBay, in fact:

“PayPal is pursuing digital payments and is the leading digital payments alternative in many different environments. So it’s not a matter of eBay holding PayPal back.”

What Donahue is really saying of course is: we will do with bitcoin what we want, when we want to, because we are really, really good at payments.

He doesn’t need to utter the word ‘bitcoin’, because that particular currency would be lower volume for PayPal today than the Russian ruble. Miller is like a dog with a bone though: “Until everyone starts using bitcoin, and then there will be no reason to use PayPal.”

Then Donahue responded with the bombshell:

“[That is just what] PayPal is doing in building a wallet that can hold multiple types of digital currency.”

So, we can assume that, as soon as cryptocurrencies are actually worth PayPal’s time and regulatory uncertainties over the commercial use of cryptocurrencies are removed, the company will integrate them into their system. And will very likely be a force from day one.

It’s really not a matter of if PayPal enters the bitcoin industry, but when and, more importantly, how.

My toughs: This is great news. I was thinking coz of paypal we will never be able to buy with btc on ebay. But looks like we will .

Balanced, a San Francisco-based company that provides a payment API for online marketplaces has today announced plans to integrate bitcoin into its system.

The company’s co-founder and CEO Matin Tamizi told CoinDesk that its marketplaces will benefit, as Balanced takes the payments layer off their hands:

“We create value by having one API and one platform to do that.”

The payment API has begun trialling bitcoin integration with two of its customers: CrowdTilt and Gittip.

Lower fees

Tamizi confirms that the company has partnered with Coinbase to launch the effort. He added: “There’s a 1% fee. We’re just passing on that 1% fee to the marketplaces.”

In effect, Balanced is passing on the 1% fee Coinbase levies to its customers in order to promote bitcoin over credit card transactions, as card fees are much higher. The Balanced website lists these fees at 2.9%+$.30 per transaction.

Credit card fees that Balanced charges. The credit card fees that Balanced charges.In turn, the company can offer marketplace customers a good introductory experience with bitcoin. “Coinbase makes it easy for anybody to start using and transacting with bitcoin instantly,” said Adam White, director of business development at Coinbase.

Bitcoin and digital payments

“What we’re trying to do is make it more mainstream by making the experience to purchase with bitcoin as close to established behaviour right now,” said Tamizi.

He believes that QR codes or long bitcoin addresses won’t be the future. Instead, Tamizi thinks something similar to Facebook Connect could be very successful for digital payments.

“You could use Coinbase, or perhaps another wallet in the future as well, to give us OAuth [open standard for authorization] access,” he said.

“You’re not sharing any sensitive information. Just like with Facebook Connect, you can revoke that permission.”

Future prospects

Balanced is only allowing marketplaces to accept bitcoin for now. However, with its escrow funds and payouts capability, there may be more bitcoin features at some point in the future. Tamizi said:

“We have to learn more about the ramifications of paying someone using just a bitcoin address.”

To begin with, the company is experimenting with debit card payouts as an alternative to bank wires, which can be pricey. “The main way that we pay people out is ACH transfers. The other thing we’ve talk about recently is pushing money via debit cards.”

This method uses a person’s debit card number to send money to a bank account – a cheaper option for Balanced than ACH wires. That feature is expected to be available for a limited beta in May.

So, for now Balanced is focused on the payment side of bitcoin. “The bigger need we see more with our customers is being able to accept bitcoin as opposed to just being able to send it out,” Tamizi said.

“But maybe being able to send bitcoin out will help us expand internationally. There’s a lot of potential there. So we’ll see.”

About Balanced

The company describes itself as “Processing. Escrow. Payouts. One API.” for marketplaces and crowdfunding sites. Last year it received $2m in a seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Currently, it has over 450 website customers.

“I think of bitcoin more of a currency similar to how US dollar of the Euro than an actual payments method. Bitcoin wallets are the actual payment method. So in this case we are giving you the ability to pay from your Coinbase bitcoin wallet.”

Tamizi added that his company still needs to learn the nuances of the relatively new currency. Its initial foray with the Coinbase partnership should be interesting given how nascent it still is for payments.